One seldom recognizes the devil when he is putting his hand on your shoulder.

Temporarily in 1934 I became a department head in the German Labor Front and dealt with the improvement of labor conditions in German factories. Then I was in charge of public works on the staff of Hess. I gave up both these activities in 1941.

I grow dizzy when I recall that the number of manufactured tanks seems to have been more important to me than the vanished victims of racism.

In all my activities as Armament Minister I never once visited a labor camp, and cannot, therefore, give any information about them.

In the burning and devastated cities, we daily experienced the direct impact of war. It spurred us to do our utmost...the bombing and the hardships that resulted from them did not weaken the morale of the populace.

At headquarters, where everyone lived under the tremendous pressure of responsibility, probably nothing was more welcome than a dictate from above. That meant being freed of a decision and simultaneously being provided with an excuse for failure.

I was not a member of the SS.